Calle 13, I’m your fan!

Do you ever have the feeling of being a little late in discovering music that other people love? I had the chance to see Calle 13 last Sunday night at the Nokia Theater in downtown LA and I was blown away by their live music y la manera como se presentaron. Gracias a Rocío Gutiérrez (on twitter at @digitalgirl_inc) por la invitación.

An adoring crowd was obviously smitten from the get go, and they knew the words to every song… aunque créanme que saberse las words to every song de Calle 13 requires clever tongue twister skills to keep up with the lyrics!

Calle 13 is made up by René Perez, Eduardo José Cabra, and Ileana, all half brothers and sister, según me acabo de enterar por Wikipedia. They’ve got one fabulous show with a full blown band, great production (lighting, awesome graphics and video) and really meaningful music, a mix of hip hop, jazz, regaetton, salsa y cumbia.

Yo confieso que soy muy pop en mis gustos musicales, even though I am a KCRW addict and get my musical influences mostly from this station. And yet it’s been a while since anybody played Calle 13 on any radio station in LA, which even René (the lead singer) acknowledged on stage.

Plus he also requested everybody read books, in English, in Spanish, and educate themselves. This is not your typical musical act. They add lines to their songs that reference Gabriel García Márquez, so that should tell you something.

Here are a few pictures from the event (they don’t let you bring in cameras inside the Nokia Theater, so I had to use the iPhone) and a video song I believe everybody should sing to themselves just to remind yourself que “No Hay Nadie Como Tú.” (It comes in after the advertising.)